First, huge thanks to Kris and Lisa Belleau for picking me up and getting me home, I really appreciate it! Misspelling of Garden of Bedlam on the marquee board aside (Garden of Bedlem with backwards 3s instead of Es?), the Garden River Community Center is a nice building, well designed and it has a rustic sort of feel! That chair hanging high on the wall left me wondering a bit though. The fundraiser started with the family friendly portion of the festivities, and true to that, the crowd was a mix of Garden of Bedlam fans, and what seemed like their kids and parents! Very closeknit community, everyone seemed to know everyone and was having a good time! There were door prizes for two awardings of $250, and largest of all, a guitar signed by the band and a $100 gift certificate for Forsaken Tattoo Studio! There were also tons of raffle prizes, and I entered for a few, but my good luck streak extending from the Rock 2 Roll skatepark fundraiser and Stillbroke's Verdi Hall show ended last night. But I did get a signed photo of the band, as did many others, it seemed like they were autographing things left and right! There was also special edition Garden of Bedlam shirts that looked cool too, didn't bring enough cash for one though.
Supper was the first major event, and my compliments to the chef! Pasta tasted great, and whoever thought to bring parmesan cheese had good foresight! Italian food's my favourite type, though I'm only 1/8th Italian. Is that odd? No matter, after supper, we mostly sat around and mingled and talked, me and the band and assorted others chatted about music, MMA, and whatever all else came up! That's always fun, and amidst it all, I heard some cool things I will keep secret, my lips are sealed! It dragged at points waiting, but the band finally hit the stage around...8:00, I think. And it was another great set from Garden of Bedlam, though shorter than I figured. Good energy as always, Buzz sounded as great as ever, I'm still in awe at some notes he can hit! Evan Belleau continues to impress me on bass, and Josh's riffing and solos just seem to get better and better! Derek Turner's drumming is top notch too! Last night, they didn't have anything to prove, they were just having fun, and it showed! This set was all originals, and the crowd was receptive, if not eager to stand with them. I also spotted Rick Dellavedova from CML Productions filming once again, might we have some new footage to look out for soon?(Note: If the image quality from my pictures taken in this set is lacking, here's why: I had to use an "image stabilization" setting on my camera with the flash turned off to get decent looking shots. With flash on, it was too dark, with it off on normal settings, it was blurry.)
After their set, everyone mostly mingled until 9:00 PM, when the fights were turned on! We watched Strikeforce: Nashville on the big screen while a "dance" went on. Well, no one danced, but I think that's what they were hoping for. Most of the songs weren't my thing, and it drowned out the fights, but what can you do? Fights weren't bad, I was wrong on all of my picks, though I was impressed by the winners! And that brawl between Mayhem Miller and Jake Shields' camp at the end was nuts! It was during the Shields/Henderson fight that they announced the prize winners, and though I went home empty handed, I did contribute cash for the new album, so that all works!
Much to my surprise, near the end of the night, Garden of Bedlam hit the stage once again for another set! This set seemed more like your typical Garden of Bedlam show, if shorter and with a more casual feel! Buzz, by this point, was drunk, but it didn't impact his singing performance! Honestly, it's not something I'd thought about either, his voice was always good! Finally, fans got up to stand with the band after some prodding, and I'm glad to say the attendance was better for this set, a lot of people shown up late! A few songs re-appeared from earlier sets, though that was likely for the benefit of late arrivals. They played all the songs on their E.P. in the two sets combined, along with brand new stuff like "Torment" and "Your Disgrace", and covers of Tool, Disturbed, and for their encore, The Deftones! Compared to their normal shows, they did make a few tiny mess-ups here and there, but really, this is a fundraiser show with their friends and family, they don't have to put on their A-game. They're just having fun, and we all sure did!
Also of note from this last set: For the first time at a Garden of Bedlam show, the band had some solo stretches! Evan first got a bass solo, and though he seemed critical and caught off guard by it, he didn't do a bad job! Though it'd be cool to see him write and have a proper bass solo for shows, I'd like to hear it! Derek's drum solo was awesome, I wish it would have ran longer! Nice and fast and relentless, just how it should be! Josh's guitar solo was great as well, he never ceases to impress! Oh, and at the show, there was suggestions made about possible involvement of Garden of Bedlam in some big summer events. Nothing's official, I'll keep you posted as I hear more!Overall, this was a fun night of music and fundraising! I think this was the longest I've ever been somewhere for a concert since the Rock 2 Roll skatepark fundraiser in August 2008! It was worth it though, and the crowd seemed receptive and proud of the guys in Garden of Bedlam! Hopefully the money that was raised will help ensure that their full length album gets the best recording and treatment it deserves! The band had fun, we all had fun, and before you know it, the fruits of Garden of Bedlam's labour will be out for us to enjoy! I got photos from both sets of the concert, so click here to check them out, or visit The Sault Metal Scene on Facebook! And yes, I have a video, so here's my footage of their performance of their new song "Three Days"!
And now, it's poll time on the SMS! Last month's poll has came to a close, and thanks to the 44 of you who cast votes! Decent amount, not too low but not a huge record breaking total either. But the results are very telling, and I can see where they come from! If you remember correctly, the question I posed to you last month was "What would you like to see happen in the local FM rock radio scene?" And here are your results!
Three choices got no votes, those being adding more rock music to WLSO, simulcasting an exisiting station, and "I'm happy with what we have." I attribute the no votes for WLSO to there not being many diehard listeners who check the SMS out, though you guys really should, they have some awesome rock blocks if you know when to tune in! No one wants a simulcast? Either you guys completely want a local station based here, or some of you didn't remember what that meant. Either way, we should have a true local station, not some other city's! And I'm so glad no one picked that they were happy with what we have! Things need to get better, hopefully the higher voted choices will have some good insight! Tied for seventh with a vote each were an AM rock radio station, moving Energy Rock Radio to FM, and "Other". I won't comment on "Other" because I don't know what that person had in mind, but I'm honestly surprised a person picked wanting an AM station! FM would be clearer and easier to access, but who knows, maybe AM's cheaper? And nice to see someone wanting Energy Rock Radio on FM, though I wish they had more listeners, maybe the vote would be higher!
Tied for fifth with four votes each are a rock station in Sault Ontario and bringing back The Bear. I KNEW there'd be sentiment for bringing The Bear back to the local airwaves, though I thought that choice would have been higher! Was it not as popular as it seemed? A rock station in Sault Ontario shown up where I thought it would. It'd be nice to have one here, but Sault Michigan is definitely a more likely area for a new radio station. Fourth place with six votes is a new classic rock station, though when you combine the votes of that and bringing back The Bear, that's 10 votes in general for just wanting a classic rock station back in the Sault, The Bear or not, and that would be good for second place in the poll! In third place with seven votes is taking the Hounds games off of Rock 101, and honestly, this result is quite telling! Rock 101 fans tend to want their station to air ROCK! Higher than I thought it'd get though, but really, I'm sure a number of metalheads in town would be perfectly satisfied if the Soo Greyhounds were back on Q104, and Rock 101 aired more of what they love! Second place with 8 votes, WAY higher than I figured it'd place, was "I don't listen to FM radio." Sure, you have other ways to listen to music, but I figured that you'd be enough of a casual listener to have an opinion? I dunno.
And in first place with 12 votes, 27% of the total vote, is a new modern rock station! I think this is pretty telling as well, it looks like more of you would rather hear modern rock than classic! Though if you combined the classic rock and The Bear votes, it is closer, you do see that modern rock is what a lot of people want to see! Maybe some of you miss Northern Michigan's Modern Rock, 94.5 The Zone, maybe you just want some newer stuff than Rock 101 and The Bear tend to air, or maybe you just want change! Either way, the results of the poll are very interesting, maybe some day, we'll get a new local rock radio station!
So now that poll's came to a close, but we have a new one, and I actually devised it's concept at the Garden of Bedlam fundraiser! During the first set, Buzz shed his hoodie, unveiling a Gene Simmons shirt underneath prior to when they performed their song "Three Days", which was about their Kiss Battle of the Bands victory! You can see this in my video above. This and later Kiss mentions led me to think about the Kiss/Garden of Bedlam concert that we're still waiting for. Since December's postponement, we've been waiting for word on a rescheduled date, and so far, nothing. Seeing as Kiss's Sault show hasn't been dominating the news so far in 2010, I figured I should gauge people's feelings on it amidst this dry spell. So I pose this question to you guys: Four months after the postponement, what are your current feelings towards our future Kiss concert? Here are your choices!It's still gonna be awesome!: Still psyched that Kiss are coming here? I know a lot of people still are, mostly diehard Kiss fans who tend to be more optimistic and forgiving, but there's a huge number of them here! I think it will still be awesome, but I never vote in the SMS polls. What do you guys think?
It'll be alright: Basically, you're gonna enjoy the show, but you're not gonna jump head over heels over it. Maybe you're a more reserved fan, or only like some songs, but there's people like that out there who are going! If this is your current mindest, vote here!
It's losing it's appeal: Has the long arduous wait for Kiss at The Essar Center been too much to bear? Is the lustre of a Kiss show fading amidst the time that's passed? I know people whose excitement level is lower now than it was last year. Reasons for the postponement aside, do you feel this way?
It will be a disappointment: This is more for people who feel that this show won't live up to the hype and the wait. Stuff like the band might not play to their potential, the show and performances might be underwhelming, the crowd might not be great, et cetera. If you figure this show won't be as good as you'd like, here's your best pick!
Kiss suck, I'm not going: Amidst all the hype and anticipation, there always have been people who don't like Kiss and don't plan on attending this concert as a result. Simple enough choice, if you aren't going and don't like Gene Simmons and company, vote away!
Tickets are still too pricey: There's no expected drop in ticket prices from the $99.50 we paid for the original December date. Tickets carry over from then, and they'll be back on sale when the rescheduled show is announced. So is $99.50 still too much for you to put out to see Kiss? If so, pick this option!
I don't think they're coming at all: Since the Kiss show became a possibility in last year's Eventful fan vote, there's been skeptics everywhere thinking that Kiss wouldn't come or would screw us over. Some are still out there, are you one of them? If you, despite the announcements and press, don't feel Kiss will ever play in Sault Ontario, vote here!
Other: Got an opinion that doesn't apply above, like something that involves Susan Myers, or some offbeat thought about the Kiss show? Then "Other" is your option!
VOTE TODAY! It'd be interesting to see general thoughts of the SMS faithful about the Kiss show! You know what'd be ironic? If the rescheduled date was announced during this poll's voting period! And no, that's not a hint or foreshadowing, I honestly have heard nothing. Still, vote today, hopefully there's a high vote total! That's all for now, my next post will almost certainly be chock full of news and such, I'll try and get it sooner than later around my class schedule. Stay tuned everyone!
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